William Allen (governor)

Infobox Congressman
name =William Allen

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state =Ohio
district =7th
term_start =March 4, 1833
term_end =March 3, 1835
predecessor =Samuel Finley Vinton
successor =William K. Bond
order2 =United States Senator from Ohio
term_start2 =March 4, 1837
term_end2 =March 3, 1849
predecessor2 =Thomas Ewing
successor2 =Salmon P. Chase
order3 =31st Governor of Ohio
term_start3 =January 12, 1874
term_end3 =January 10, 1876
lieutenant3 =Alphonso Hart
predecessor3 =Edward F. Noyes
successor3 =Rutherford B. Hayes
birth_date =December 18 or 27, 1803
birth_place =Edenton, North Carolina
death_date =July 11, 1879
death_place =
nationality =
party =Democratic
spouse =
relations =
children =
residence =
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website =
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William Allen (December 18 or 27, 1803ndash July 11, 1879) was a Democratic Representative and Senator from the U.S. state of Ohio, as well as Governor of Ohio.

Allen was born in Edenton, North Carolina. His sister, Mary Granberry Allen, married Pleasant Thurman, and their son, Allen G. Thurman, followed in his uncle's footsteps, becoming a lawyer and politician. Allen moved to Chillicothe, Ohio in 1819 and he and his sister lived there together.

He served as a Representative from Ohio from 1832 to 1834, when he lost a bid for re-election, and Senator from Ohio from 1837 to 1849, losing a bid for a third term in 1848. Allen then retired to his farm, "Fruit Hill", near Chillicothe, Ohio, and did not return to public service for nearly a quarter century. He served as Governor of Ohio from 1874 to 1876. He unsuccessfully sought a second two-year term in an 1875 election.

While in the Senate, Allen was one of a group of Western Democrat expansionists who asserted that the U.S. had a valid claim to the entire Oregon Country, which was an issue during the 1844 U.S. presidential election. By January 1846 the Democratic press had popularized Allen's slogan "Fifty-four Forty or Fight". This slogan suggested that the United States should be prepared to go to war with the United Kingdom in order to move the Oregon border north to annex the entire Oregon Country up to Russian-owned Alaska at latitude 54°40′N (fifty-four forty).

William Allen is one of Ohio's statues donated to the National Statuary Collection. He stands in National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol